Mounting for automobile-headlights.



W. E. NICKERSON. MOUNTING FOR AUTOMOBILE HEADLIGHTS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16, 1911. 1 089 430 Patented Mar. 10, 1914.

3 BHEETS-BHEET 1.

W. E. NIOKBRSON.

MOUNTING FOR AUTOMOBILE HEADLIGHTS APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16, 1911.

1,089,430. Patented Mar. 10, 1914 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W. E. NIGKERSON. MOUNTING FOR AUTOMOBILE HEADLIGHTS. 4PPLIOATIOH FILED JUNE 16, 1911.

1,089,430. Patented Mar. 10, 1914 8 SHEETS-SHEET 8.

. 7 a a. MAM/Wk.

UNITED STAglgSlgENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM E. NICKERSON, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 EVERETT D. CHADWICK, TRUSTEE, OF WINCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

MOUNTING FdR AUTOMOBILE-HEADLIGHTS.

Application filed June 16,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 10, 1914. 1911. Serial No. 633,565.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. NICKER- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Mountings for Automobile-Headlights, of which the following is a specification.

It is a well-recognized objection to the powerful headlights used on various selfpropelled road vehicles, such as electric cars and automobiles, that to a person approaching such a headlight from in front of the same practically nothing is "isible except the light itself, all objects adjacent to and behind the light being obscured by the in tense .glare, so that the passing of two auto-s mobiles in opposite directions at night is attended not only with difficulty but also with the danger of running off the road-bed or into persons or obstructions in the ro'adbed behind the approaching ears. The same dit ficulty and danger are involved in the passing of an automobile and an electric car, and have become so serious that in some places the use of such headlights has been subjected to regulation by statute or municipal ordinance, or prohibited altogether unless provision is made for doing away with the objectionable glare of the same at will.

My invention is intcmled to provide a simple and ellicicnt arrangement f r accentplishing the result justrei'crred to without losin the benefit of the illumination of the IOtldfifl'll, and i (illtli'tlCitEFiZQtl by the em- IJiO VII'ICHL, in combimition with the vehicle and its headlight, ot' mountings for the headlight located on opposite sides of the saint. and ha ing 'iivotal axes which extend horizontally and transversely to the leng h of the vehicle, or substantially so, in such manner that the light can be arranged to throw its rays forward in the usual manner,

-or tilted to throw its rays downward upon the road-bed immediately in front of the vehiclc, as desired. 'hen the headlight so tilted the road-bed is still illuminated in front of the car but the path of the rays of light is so changed that although the tiame itself may be visible to a person approaching the vehicle from in front, such person is not exposed to the direct glare of the light, So that the vehicle and the objects behind and adjacent to it remain visible and all danger or difficulty in passing the car is obviated.

Thus the illumination produced by the headlight, instead of being; a source of danger, becomes of actual assistance because, being thrown directly upon the road-bed itself, the roadbed becomes l'iighly illun'iinatcd directly in front of the vehicle, and the resultin illumination of adjacent objects by the llllt reflected from the road-bcd assists in making them visible.

My invention is herein illustrated and described as applied to an automobile having a pair of l'ieadlights according to the usual practice, and as one of the features of my invention l have (levised :1 mounting for the lnadlights which is in the form of an attachment; adapted to bc applied to the usual standards which carry the headlights of isting automobiles, without alteration either of the st-ztntlart'ls llltlllrtl'tC-fr or of the headlights, thi embodiment ot' my invention, as preferably constructed, being illustrated in the accompanying: drawings, in which-- Figure l is a side elevation, partly in sec tion, of so much of the front portion of an automobile as nclude he headlights and their n'tountings, topptht-r with means for tilting the headlights; Fig]. 2 is a similar icvv showing one of the hca'idlights on a larger scale; Ftp. J- is a plan view showing I a detail; Fig. l is a twin rltW of the headlight and the ini lac nt parts, partly broken parts hown in his. l. i in she drawing but one hcmllight is illustrated, t he c nstrtn-tion and mounting of the other headlight bring identical, so that the description ol' one r. ill sci-w for both.

Referring to the drawings. indicates one of the frames oithe Cll'ihrli and 3. 3, indicate a pair of upright sttndards secured to and projecting upward from the frame 2 near its front end in the well known manner. (1n each of thes tint-thirds 3 is mounted a bracket 4 hit-h is clamp d thereon by means of a set screw .3 and has a forartily pr jcctint: portion (3 carrying a pivot rod T extend in horizontally and tran v r ely with respect totholcngth ot' lllC ttl.lllO two brackets 4' being o adjusted on the standards 3 that the corre ponding rods 7 are in axial alinenient with each other. ()11 each of the rods 7 is pivotally mounted a hub S, Fig. 3, from which a standard 9 extends upward, said 1 standard having the same size and shape as the upper portion of the adjacent Standard away: and Pig. 5 a top plan \icw of the at 13 in Fig. 2.

2, so that it is adapted to pass upward through the usual supporting bracket 10 carried by the corresponding side of the headlight 11 and to support the same at the usual elevation. Each hub 8 is preferably located a in a vertically-cxtending recess formed in} the front end of its bracket 4, as shown in Fig. 3, and a spring 12 connects the hymn ends of the corresponding standards *2 and 9, whereby the standards 9 are normally maintained in the vertical position, each, standard being prevented from moving back ward beyond this position by means of a 1 suitable stop which is represented as consisting of a flat face formed on the huh and adalpted to abut against the rear wall of the recess in which said hub moves, shown With the parts constructed and arranged as above described, the headlights 1!. are adapted to be turned on the horizontal axes on which they are mounted in such manner as to throw the rays of light downward upon the road-bed immediately in front of the car, as indicated in Fig. I and, in. order that this may be readily accomplished by the driver from his seat I ovide suitable operating connections preferably consisting of an arm 14 connected to one of the hubs 8, of each headlight and extending downward therefrom, and a rock shaft 15 mounted beneath the footboard l6 and provided with a downwardly-extending'arm 17 connected by a flexible cord or wire 18 to the lower end of the correspondin arm 14, said rock aft being also provided with an upwardlvex' tending arm 19 to which i pivoted a trcadle 20 passing through an aperture in the tootboard and provided with means for locking it in its depressed position, such as a series of notches 21 adapted to receive the edge of a locking plate 22, Fig. 1. It will be under stood that the cords 18 corresponding to the two headlights are both connected to the same rock shaft 15, so that whenever the treadle 20 is depressed and locked in the po' sition shown in Fig. 1 said cords 18 will be drawn backward and will therefore tilt the headlights on .their pivotal axes and thus throw the light downward upon the l'fiiild bed as already described, the springs be ing simultaneously extended. To restore the car when originally built, it

headlights to their normal positing; the outer end of the treadle 20 is pressed forward, thus a disengagin the treadle from the locking plate 22, whereupon the springs 12 d raw the upper ends of the standards 9 haclovmd into vertical position.

It will be observed that inasmuch as the two brackets 4 corresponding to each headlight are entirely separate and distinct from each other the attachment above described may be applied to any pair of standards .3, regardless of their distance apart, and inasmuch as such standards are now madeot i nosaeeo uniform size to a considerable extent, in corresp l ndence with the various makes of headlights, a few different sizes of my attachment will suiiice for practically all types and makes of automobiles. The pivotal mountings for the headli hts may, however, be incorporated in the eadlight supports of a desired, and the means for tilting the head ights may be widely varied, without departing in either case from my invention, which is also ap plicable to electric street cars and in fact to any vehicle in the use of which it is desirable to obviate the, above-described disadvantages due to the use of a powerful headlight. '7

I claim Rl11y invention 1. An attachment for automobiles comprising a pair of brackets adapted to be supported respectively by the usual headlight standards,- supplementary upright standards carried by said brackets and mounted to turn on alined horizontal pivots, and means for turning thelatter standards on said pivots.

An attachment for automobiles comprising a pair of brackets adapted to be supported respectively by the usual headlight standards, said brackets being provided. with supplementary upright standards adapted tosupport mounted to turn on transversely-extending horizontal pivots, springs tending to main tain the supplementary standards in vertical position, and means for tilting the latter standards and the headlight carried thereby on said pivots.

An attachmentfor automobiles comprising a pair of independent brackets having vertical perforations adapted to receive the usual headlight standards, supplementary standards carried by said brackets respectively and adapted to enter the perforated supports on the sides of the headlight, said supplementary standards being mounted on alined transversely-extending pivots, springs connecting the upper ends of the standards on each side of the headlight, an arm connected to one of the supplementary standards and extending downward therefrom, and means for drawin said arm backward to tilt the headlig t on said pivots.

4. The combination with an automobile having a pair of upright headlight-carrying st andards, of a bracket mounted on each standard, a supplementary standard carried by each bracket and mounted to rock on a transversely-extending pivot, a headlight mounted on said pair of supplementary standards, springs connec ing the upper ends of the standards on each side of the headlight, and means for tilting the head light to throw its rays'forward and downward on the road-bed.

The combination with an autcinobile the headlight and having a pair of upright headlight-carrying standards, of a bracket mounted on each standard, a supplementary standard carried by each bracket and mounted to rock on a transversely-extending pivot, a headlight mounted on said pair of supplementary standards, springs connecting the upper ends of the standards on each side of the headlight, and means for tilting the headlight to throw its rays forward and down ward on the road-bed, comprising an arm connected to the supplementary standards and extending downward therefrom, a rock-shaft, connections between the rockshaftand said downwardly-extending arm,-

and a treadle accessible from the drirers seat for operating said rock-shaft.

(3. The-combination with an automobile having a pair of upright headlight-carry ing standards, of a bracket mounted on each standard, a supplementary standard carried by each bracket and mounted to rock on a transversely-extending pivot, aheadlight mounted on said pair of supplementary standards, springs connecting the upper ends of the standards on each side of the headlight, and means for tiltingthe headlight to throw its rays forward and dOWIlward on the road-bed, comprising an arm connected to the supplementary standards and extending downward therefrom, a rockshat't, connections between the rock-shaft and said downwardly-extending arm, and a treadle accessible from the drivers seat for operating said rock-shaft, said treadle being pivotally connected to the rock-shaft and provided with notches adapted to re- -ei :e the edge of a locking plate.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed jny name this fourteenth day of June, 1911.

\VILLIAM E. NICKERSON.

ritnesges E. D. CuADwIoK, Josrrn T. BRENNAN. 

